Wheel and Tire Fitment Questions

lowcountrystang

New Member
Jan 9, 2006
2
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I'm looking for some solid rules of thumb in fitting new rims and tires onto my '90 GT. I've lowered the car moderately (about 1 to 1.5") with H&R Springs and I'm looking to put 17x9s on rear and front.

Lots of conflicting information: about half of the posts I read claim no problems and about half claim rubbing/rolling fenders/rubbing a-arms, etc.

Any rules of thumb for rim sizes, widths, offsets, backspacing? The Cobra R R58s seem suitable for the front with 5.98 backspacing while the Cobra R M179s seem suitable for the rear with 6.42 backspacing. However, for the front, I've read that SN95 spindles seem to be required to avoid rubbing. Is this true?

For the rear, upon inspection of the suspension, I'm just not seeing how a 9" wheel (and even wider tire) manages NOT to impinge on the horizontal shock - which is about 1" from the stock 15" rims/tires. But every one's doing it. Are they removing the shock - which I'm not concerned about doing - just trying to gain an understanding before dropping a grand on guess work.

Lastly, I'm not locked into Cobra Rs at all, just seems to be a good wheel to get the best understanding of fitment before looking else where.

I sure would appreciate it if ya'll could help me?
 
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